UNDERSTANDING SELF AND THE TEAM

By : Wilhem Nainggolan

Group 8 - EMBA UPH Jakarta Indonesia

1. INTRODUCTION

I have been working 11 years in a local pharmaceutical company based in Jakarta Indonesia. As that long

I enjoyed joining and through my carrier in a rapidly expanding and full dynamic company in Indonesia’s

pharmacies competitions. And I might proud that my company is the 10 th top local

pharmaceutical companies such as Kalbe, Sanbe, Dexa and get rank 15 th top all pharmaceutical

company with the top world class companies, such as Pfizer with their Viagra brand, Glaxo SK,

Bayer etc.

In beginning my job, I was totally blind about my job and task description. Before that, I create

my all applications and send to the all companies where they listed in the regularly job events.

So, when I got interviewed and accepted to join, I was trained in a month in head office and

replaced in areas of Karawang region, West Java. It’s about 50 km near from Jakarta. I am ready

to do my job description with all about marketing and sale the medicine products. But, in

progress my job, I realized that my assignment is just not to promote and sale the products. I

am a representative my company to deal with the doctors, pharmacians and hospital directors

in my area. I would be a bridge communications between my company and all the clients.

2. STARTING A JOURNEY
My first jabatan is a Medical Representative. I would be a first line in dealing with the doctors

and pharmacians to got a mutual cooperation about the medicine prescriptions. My superior is

Supervisor (SPV) and then the next superior is Area Manager (AM). The Supervisor (SPV) has a

team with 3-4 MR’s people. Each MR has outlets divided in split outlet with another MR to

cover the hospitals and major clinics in the area. Meanwhile, the Area Manager (AM) has 2-3

SPV teams & 1 secretary. And The Area Manager also has a branch office with their SPV teams.

For common, the detail of this job is doing marketing pharmacy retails and going work outfield

daily. We have to meet and promote our products such as oral medicines, vitamins, injections

and infussion. We have to compete with other pharmaceutical companies for our brand and

have to convince the doctors, pharmacians and hospital directors with same therapy, the

composition and symptomatic purposes to the patients. Imagine, Indonesia have 200

pharmaceutical companies and almost of them are producing same medicine such as same

antibiotics, same analgetics, anti histamines, anti diabetics, vitamins, etc. We can imagine the

competition is very tight and high pressure to win the pharmacy market. So, the big line is we

compete each other for brand of the same medicines. For that, each Medical Representative

candidate will be accepted if they have been through 3 level test. The tests are mathematic

counts, psychological & medical knowledge. And then, the MR will sign the contract with the

terms are willing to place in every region in Indonesia and do not married until 3 years end.

Because they have been passed from the recruitment process, we believe that the new MR is

ready to work in outfield and has a passion to win the pharmacy markets. We always assumed

that the market is a battlefield, and we all have the philosophy is “to kill or to be killed”.
Why do we think of that? Like marketing and sales retail field commons, we have to achieve the

target of sales and sustainable growth in the crowded competition.

And the details in outfield, we have many plans to do and anything can happen, like to arrange

to meet the doctors, pharmacians, hospital management but often denied or canceled, facing

the unique the characters. We realized that our client is not ordinary people. All they are

especially the specialist doctors or the professors are smart, busy, sensitive, gentle and thinker

people. We have to do deal with them carefully. For those purposes, our director have to

trained the new MR in a month and also the SPV and AM have to get advanced various in-house

training a year regularly to maintenance and develop our motivation, skill and career path.

In running time goes by, we realized that not all the MR’s has survived and developed in this

job. In many marketing survey results found that the turn over MR average is above the normal

percentage. It’s 30-35% in first year, then 40-50% in second year. It means, from 100 MR

recruited, they only 65 – 70 MR peoples still survive and enjoy the job in their first year, but

decreasingly in second year to 50 people in second year joined. That is the fact and we have to

improve our system and management approach to find the best solution to control the turn

over level. We all know how expensive money spent to train a MR person. It’s almost 8 million

rupiahs or equivalent US$ 800 for each MR for recruitment training. That number is not

included for next advanced training and workshop.

3. GOING UP THE NEXT LEVEL

Then the opportunity to get promote is quite tough too. The internal competition is difficult

because in marketing level way is a simple structure and efficiently. It means, in a chance to get
promoted from a good MR to be Supervisor (SPV) usually need 4 years. Then to get raised up

from a good Supervisor (SPV) for a level of Area Manager usually need 5-6 years commons.

Indeed, the effect of this tight competition has made many MR or Supervisor to be

demotivated, bored and finally resign from our company and move to a different

pharmaceutical company. Even before the new company has used to the old direct competitor.

In my experience to walk to career path from MR level going to SPV need 2 years only. Then

I Got promoted to be Area Manager in 7 years next. I succeed got promoted faster than the

others, because firstly I have basic knowledge about sales marketing, managerial, leadership

in working team together. From the MR level going up to be SPV level is not difficult to me.

But in level SPV, the situation has more complicated because I have a small team and I have

responsible with my team to achieve the target sales. When I was a MR before, my target is

individual and it was not hard to deliver it for 2 years. But, when I lead the team, the target

sales had to achieve all member collective within divided each member proportionally. And

my company’s rules are each AM or SPV team must able to achieve the target and balance

among the members. For examples, whenever my team achieved the target 100% totally,

we still cannot get full bonus and winning commissions if there is a member got only 50-

60% from their individual target even another member can get over 120-130% from the

individual target to cover my total sales lack. The rule is, each Area Manager has to manage

all the individual target sales in balance and proportional. There is not allowed if the interval

percentage range is too different among the member. Minimum interval percentage range

is +/- 30% each other. So, the big point is, our management want to the all team can get the

target together simultaneously. And it’s an AM’s job to handle and manage the team to
each member get the maximum performance with each other. I believe for each member to

win the target sales and the marketplace need many requirements such as persistent or

militant character, honest and willing to learn.

4. KNOWING ME KNOWING THE TEAM AND WHAT’S THE PROBLEM

As the team leader, I compared my-self behaviors compare to the members. I think my

basic behavioral response pattern is aggressive, but my member team is almost passive. For

example, I think and do anything quickly, but my team still thinking such there is another

day will always come and doing in slow and gently. So, there is a big gap between us. For

that gap, I had to strength my core managerial competencies every time. I would more to

be a changing implementer, to think creative, make strategy and action, build the team,

participation oriented and willing to be a facilitator between my teams to the our superior

at top management. And I know my team still not solid and ready to go. I am learning to

build a team would need more each participation and engagement of individual and

collective team member.

Lead a team with 11 person, make me have to improve my EQ (Emotional Quotient). The

most EQ’s things are empathy, within my self-awareness and self-management. If we

described in empathy map, they are all about think or feel, hear or see, say or do. First, I

have to know and recognize each member in my team. I have to find their each

competencies and characters. As example, I have to realized that my almost member are

born in not ideal family or even broken home or very low economic neighborhood. Five

from 11 members are growth with single parent, because their parents were divorced. So, I
feel often that I become their “parents” too during them. The girls always share and cry if

they got trouble at field and I have to encourage them and push them privately. Sometimes,

to take care of their private life had waste my time very much and very tired until my job

had to postpone. And I feel no different about am I their boss, or mentor or coach even

their brother. They feel free to borrow my money, my car or stay in my house.

If I may use the Quadrant of my team is Quadrant 3 which is Low Value and Low

Uniqueness. I realized that each member are unique, but I identify them mostly they had

low competences and low persistent characters in retail sales competition. I think maybe

there is a correlation about their family background and historical education.

Imagine when we are at the outfield, we have to wait for a long minutes even hour for just

to meet a potential client, but at the end we had rejected, ignored or just talked in a

minute. To get client’s accepted, we must have a big patience and extra attention to change

the next strategy. So I know that almost my members don’t have this skills. As a leader, I

have to make leadership style with transactional, focused an compliance and sanctions for

poor performance. In daily doing is I have to motivate them, coach them, evaluate, and

mentoring them everyday. We start the day with briefing effectively usually, otherwise our

time will disturbed by phone calling, texting, or email that had various outfield problems.

Besides that, our coverage area is quite big. My team has to cover and serve 18 hospitals,

10 major clinics and 110 drug stores. So, I divide them proportional base on the distance,

the density of area, character of the client and historical culture.

5. TEAM DEVELOPMENT AND BUILD COMMUNICATION

my team growing up. I have to improve to form the team, like often to meet each other,

storming for learn how to work together, norming to start to work and performing

excellence similar to work hard toward the goal.

I learn to change my communication style too. I learn there are 3 parts communications

which are verbal, vocal and visual. All AM trained to be a good communicators. The

Characteristics of Good Communicators are good listener, give verbal and non-verbal

encouragement, do not dominate the discussion, give total attention, open and honest and

speak clearly. I admitted that I am still in progress to do all things of that. I build the

tradition in my team, that we start the day with chats, jokes and then discussion until brief

shortly to the all MR. And then, after the MRs leave the office, I continued the discussion to

my SPV and evaluate the last day progress or anything happened in emergency situation.

Many problems appeared in outfield, such as the hospital’s due payment lately, the doctors

didn’t commit to our first agreement, and delay of product delivery and running out the

stock, etc. We decide what problem should be solve first, and others can postpone. Because

we related to similar style of the clients, so we have to respond my client needed quickly.

There is no late or rejection to respond our client needed, because we realize if we respond

late then my client will leave and go to our competitors company. So, our goal is simple to

the client, we have to think and respond fast before the others do.

I coach and mentoring my team in detail to identify every problem and troubles and solve it

with their SPV or to me directly. I am always told to them do not hesitate to report directly
to me if they found any difficult at the outfield. I told them, it is better to report to me

directly every bad news, terrible problem, or forgotten appointment compared it was not

told to me because they afraid about the implication. I coach and mentoring them, when

bad things happen and we can find the solutions. Sometimes we spend the spare time to go

travelling to many cities to celebrate our achievement. Because I love to travel and

backpacker. And I proud that my team’s habbit contagious from me. Now, They usually go

travelling even without me because my family routines, and I give permission and support

with my car for that. In daily, I have no gaps to my team, but sometimes when our

performance sales report going decreased, I have to change my style to be a aggressive

leader. I must think and analyzed fast if the circumstances going worst, I have to go the way

out even there was a pain for it. It was consequence of my

When many people joined and worked to a group, there must be a misunderstanding and

conflict among the members. I realize that any conflict potential may come up often

suddenly. So, as a leader, I learn to act as a mediator, I have to identify the source of

conflict, look beyond, request solution or just avoid the conflict. I think the conflict can

make a good assessment to know how ready my team are able to deal with the pressure

and manage their ambition to achieve the target. If the conflict is not seriously and even

going to personal or subjection conflict, I just avoid the conflict and switch their attention to

another problem.

6. THE DEAL AND BUILDING TRUST IN THE WORKPLACE

employee too. I have many superior going up to the top level management in head office. The

big problem or dilemma to me until now is how to build the trust and the deal between my

members team to my superior request? It is common when the board of top management give

us many task and extra target simultaneously. And we were under pressure to deliver it done.

And it is normally happen when the member or employee has expect more about the raising

salary, career path, benefits, commissions, bonus, fairness, etc. Then the board top

management has expect the performance level, work hard and efficient from the members. I

learn that is a big gap too. So, as the leader or as a middle level management, I have build the

bridge of trust between this. I told to my all teams about our boss expectation, and then when

it’s achieved I asked to my superior for more backup in our expectation and assist directly to

solve our problems. But until now, we do that still in progress. I realize it is not easy to make it

happen. Because of the big gaps and my boss empathy’s still in progress too.

7. FINAL PURPOSE

I realize that I am not a superman, I am just a person who get more responsible to manage

other people to run the rules and achieve the target sales. It’s not always success to deliver it,

but I believe that if we give our best performance to the company so the company definitely

will give a good feedback to me and my team, even my several members cannot follow my rules

and failed to survive in this business. It is natural. The journey has a long way to the top success,

and we just walk in to it and enjoy the process to win the challenge.
At the end, I am enjoy my job very much. Because in spiritual view, I feel worthy, happy and

proud when there are 2 my members got promoted to be SPV and 1 my member become an

AM like me now in different region. I feel blessed if I see their life and spirituality faith going

better. And I believe that the true leader willing to generate new leader. And I already did it and

fulfilled my purpose of my life driven even it’s not perfect yet.

THANK YOU